One of those is the ‘EB Edition’ found at XDA Forums and meant for the venerable HTC Titan. We decided to flash it on to one of our devices and give it a go, so make sure to check out the video after the break…

Truth be told, so far Windows Phone 7.8 (build 8835.35) is just a new Start screen (with multi-sized Tiles) and nothing more. The custom ROM itself features of a bunch of neat things, including the Bazzar homebrew Store and even USB Video Out, but none of that is part of 7.8.

So how does it run? It’s actually quite neat, as to be expected. We’re really excited for the new Start screen as it makes organization a lot easier, with lower priority apps getting a tiny tile, while important ones can go ‘double wide’. It is odd seeing the Tiles that large, due to the removal of the “gutter” to the right but you get used to it quickly. The EB Edition ROM also handles quite well and we have yet to experience any major issues.

Is it worth unlocking (HSPL), flashing on a compatible ROM and then re-flashing 7.8? Depends on your time and ability to follow directions. The actual process only took about 25 minutes, but it is considerably longer if you have to read up on it. And you should, the risks here are substantial if you don’t do things right. And although the 7.8 beta Start screen is nice, there are some quirks here and there that makes this optional only for those who have the spare time and strong desire.

We should note that there is an AT&T Titan edition, but hard-unlocking an AT&T phone may be more work (needs Y-cable and GoldCard; correct us if we’re wrong).

Reader comments

Video hands on with the Windows Phone 7.8 beta and custom ROM

Man you giggle alot, its moments like this that I wish I never gave away my HD7 that was already running a custom rom. Now I can't wait for somebody over at xda to crack the Lumia 900 wide open software wise.

I was gonna do this over the weekend but the y-cable and gold card stuff had me feeling like a bomb diffuser so I simply flashed cab files of tango Tommy ATT titan instead. Nice to finally have a keyboard that stays in place! Lol

I flashed Jaxbot's 7.8 ROM to my old Focus, and while it's just start screen and more accent colors, it's a developmental version that doesn't reflect the final product. For instance, my "Games" tile will have an Xbox logo on it, but as soon as I alter the size, it changes to a accent-colored tile. On top of that, my Pictures tile will shrink to a tiny tile, but then I can't resize it to double-wide. It's still buggy.

Maybe the versions floating around were made for demo purposes, to be used by premium developers for trying the new live tiles on a real phone. Or maybe for use in marketing, to avoid bad mock-ups in photos and videos.

Dan,
Yes the Titan does need the Y-cable and SD card to go along. It can be a bit tricky if you don't know what you're doing.
Thanks for the shoutout on the AT&T edition :)Here's a link to that version.

I can confirm it working on HTC arrive the start screen is pretty sweet and ill keep using it until it comes out officially overall its much snapper and my compasitvie touch buttons have a lighter buzz or vibration to them ....internet sharing works tooo

+1, there are multiple 7.8 ROMs for the Arrive ATM... Its great, I had a small issue with the size of the tiles at first (I like the original with the gutter). But once I started resizing them and "customizing" my home screen, it became ohhh-so-sweet... Definitely worth the update... Even if it is just a beta is pretty stable (other than not all tiles changing colors, but easy fix by resizing them). Like Tango, you can share pix & vid through MMS... That's a plus too... Internet sharing works (as Quis0822 stated) and so do the ## codes... I think if you're thinking of updating, you really should people... I'm quite satisfied ATM since its just beta and there should be more with the official release... This will hold me over till WP8 (or the next leak)... jejeje